<p>So for Princeton, we know that they have a grading policy and try to keep a certain number of A’s B’s and C’s. For Princeton, and for Ivies in general, I’m concerned that this is a problem. Why? How can all these smart students who were admitted be getting C’s? How can grade deflation actually work without something being wrong. I know in messed up countries like South Korea schools are trying to put down grade inflation (this is primary/secondary education), and do this by having ridiculous expectations of students, in literature they have to memorize texts by heart and remember authors names, the years they were born, and this that really aren’t useful to be learned. So is this what your gonna get with an ivy league education?</p>
<p>Smart students who were admitted tend to never get below a B. </p>
<p>It’s the “not smart” students (~30% or more of any given class) who get C’s on occasion. Not all Princeton students are smart.</p>
<p>You’re under the mistaken impression that all students maintain their motivation once admitted to college (that’s assuming they had any to begin with, for there are several rich students who got in solely because of their family’s money/connections).</p>
<p>^Oh yeah, I agree. Some of the smart kids lose motivation here and just slack off… Very strange, considering college is way more important than high school career-wise.</p>
<p>^Guess who’s back.</p>
<p>There must be quite a few kids at Princeton , as almost everyone at CC would know, (URM’s and other non-academic related hooks)who weren’t admitted based on thier academic merits. I’m not saying I’m against admitting these students; its just that they might not be as academically capable as are other students.</p>
<p>For example, there are plenty of ORM’s with 2400 SAT and 4.0 gpa who would have gotten A’s in Princeton that were rejected. On the other hand, there are URM’s or athletic recruits with below 2000 SAT, accepted based on other aspects of the application. These students wouldn’t necessarily be the straight A type of kids.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be an ass of anything. I think this might provide an explanation for some C’s and below average grades at Princeton caliber schools.</p>
<p>Perhaps Princeton courses are somehow more difficult than high school courses? …Seems viable…</p>
<p><a href=“URM’s%20and%20other%20non-academic%20related%20hooks”>quote</a>who weren’t admitted based on thier academic merits.
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</p>
<p>To the OP, the above students are going to most likely be the ones with the lowest grades. (Not all URMS, but those with scores below the 25th percentile.)</p>
<p>But if you’re trying to compare Princeton to other Ivies, then it’s a different story (with their grade deflation policy).</p>
<p>
Hahaha your sooo funny man. If you looked at my first post, you would have saved your sarcasm, because I’m asking that if harder courses are the case, in what way are they more difficult to cause grade deflation. Do they have ridiculous tests that require you to memorize unneccesary information?</p>
<p>^No, memorizing unnecessary information is not encouraged at Princeton. You will almost never memorize unnecessary information.</p>
<p>For example: we have open book, open notes organic chemistry exams. I don’t know of any other university doing this. The reason the averages are ~50% on those exams is because they are pretty difficult. They put up hard questions that actual organic chemists might face, and they expect you to be able to solve them like a pro.</p>
<p>“No, memorizing unnecessary information is not encouraged at Princeton. You will almost never memorize unnecessary information.”</p>
<p>Clearly you have not taken a language class :)</p>
<p>randombetch, thanks for that example. there might be a difference from B.A. to B.S. but it looks good for engineering</p>
<p>This is absurdly misguided. I received a C-range grade in a class at Princeton and I was by no means “not admitted for my academic merits.” I was an ORM, way above the 75th percentiles in GPA/SAT and went on to a top 3 law school after. Classes can be hard and **** just happens. Further, I think you’d be incredibly surprised at how weak the correlation between pre-college and college performance are.</p>
<p>okay, but how were they so hard to make u get a C-???</p>
<p>If you have to ask, clearly you aren’t qualified.</p>
<p>really, i dont understand.</p>
<p>Students get C’s because Princeton is a very challenging college. And there are curves. Every student at Princeton is no doubt smart, and deserving of a good grade, but not everyone can get an A or a B. Even if you are doing really well in a class and know the material well, if you are in say, the bottom 25% of the class grade-wise, you will get a C. This is just an example, not the way the real curve works. It is not like high school where it is just some individual thing.</p>
<p>@poobear “Clearly you have not taken a language class”</p>
<p>How exactly would one learn a foreign language without memorizing vocabulary? I said we don’t memorize unnecessary information.</p>
<p>You mean you don’t derive every word from a set of fundamental linguistic axioms?</p>